ORWIGSBURG — The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board had a record year in 2015, but Chairman Tim Holden is quick to deflect praise from himself to the agency’s employees.
“We work well together,” Holden, Saint Clair, said last week while attending the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick luncheon at the Schuylkill Country Club. “We have a great team in place. It’s a combined team effort.”
Holden, who served 20 years in the U.S. House of Representatives in districts that always included all of Schuylkill County, has chaired the PLCB since Feb. 17, 2015, the date Gov. Tom Wolf appointed him to the post. That appointment represented a promotion: Holden had served on the board since Nov. 13, 2013, when the state Senate unanimously approved his nomination.
“I’m just honored Governor Wolf made me chairman,” Holden said.
He said his greatest challenge as chairman is the PLCB’s split role.
“The challenge is that we have a dual mission,” Holden said. “We need to generate sales. We need to promote responsible alcohol consumption.”
That dual mission stems from Pennsylvania’s status as one of only two states — Utah is the other — that is in the business of selling as well as regulating liquor.
“I think we do both very well,” Holden said. “We invest millions of dollars in alcohol education. We take our mission of alcohol education very seriously. We have numerous initiatives.”
Schuylkill County has nine state stores, with two in the Pottsville area and one each in Ashland, Mahanoy City, Orwigsburg, Pine Grove, Schuylkill Haven, Shenandoah and Tamaqua.
Pennsylvania’s continued sale of liquor is a source of controversy. Many legislators want to end the state’s role in selling liquor, while others want to maintain part or all of the system.
Holden declined to take a position on that issue, saying his role is administration rather than the making of policy.
“(It is) up to us to administer and execute” the law as the Legislature and governor want it, he said. “Our job is to execute whatever the governor and the General Assembly agree on and we will do that to the best of our ability.”
So far, he said, that is working well.
The PLCB generated record profits in 2015, with a 4.2 percent growth in sales, Holden said. That growth is comparable to any retail business, and has enabled it to transfer $75 million to the state’s general fund so far this year, with another $25 million to be shifted in June, he said.
Furthermore, according to Holden, the PLCB takes its service role seriously. He said the board already has rebranded 113 stores to be more consumer-friendly and has plans to do 30 more in the near future.
That has benefitted the state and its citizens in more ways than one, Holden said.
“Every time we do that, we get a bump in consumer sales,” he said.
Holden said he has enjoyed traveling around Pennsylvania as part of his job and also has been happy to talk with two former PLCB chairmen and Schuylkill County citizens, former state Rep. James A. Goodman and U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III, about the position, particularly when he was starting out in the post. However, neither of those is the highlight of the job, he said.
“Being around people” is the best part of being chairman, Holden said.